Karnataka men in last four

Tamil Nadu makes semifinals in both sections

Karnataka came from behind to defeat Indian Railway 83-67 in a men’s quarterfinal clash of the 69th senior National basketball championship at the here on Thursday.

Karnataka worked out a similar strategy (change in the defence pattern) as it did against Tamil Nadu and it clicked.

Karnataka, which trailed in the first two quarters, applied full court pressure in the next two to take the lead and seal a win. M. Harissh (23 pts), A. Arvind (21pts) and V.K. Anil Kumar (17 pts) were the pick of the players for the team.

Tamil Nadu and Services, the top two teams, also sealed the last four berth. The former kept its cool in the final minutes of the game to oust Haryana 77-75 and the latter hammered Rajasthan 104-69. Punjab was the other team to advance.

In the women’s section, Chhattisgarh, which had the lean and lanky Poonam Chaturvedi scoring a tournament-high of 56 points, beat Karnataka 100-80, while defending champion Indian Railway cruised to a comfortable 94-51 win over an off-colour Punjab.

Earlier, the in-form S. Pushpa (24 pts) doubled up her efforts to steer Tamil Nadu to a 75-57 win over Telangana for a place in the last four. The win was expected considering the quality and consistency of its players. It will take on Kerala, which scored a facile 84-55 win over Delhi.